A Look Back at 2011

On March 16^th, I finally arrived back in Tanzania after 3 months at home.  I enjoyed that time.  I enjoyed the time with family and friends.  I enjoyed the many blessings and comforts of life in the US.  But more than anything, I enjoyed extended moments alone, soaking in the stillness & quiet, and finding rest for my mind – something I dearly missed at the orphanage last year!  But now I’m back, and ready to start fresh in this new year at the orphanage!

I’ve now spent a total of 1 year in Tanzania, and 6 months of that time working at the orphanage.  My first 3 months here in 2009, I was merely observing (I had no other choice since I was without a translator).  My 3 months in 2010 were spent in Swahili school, with only a few weeks to visit the orphanage.  Then last June I finally took on the role of director at the orphanage.

Just briefly, I want to share a few of the things that took place last year before everything gets rolling with the year ahead.

We wanted to get started right away with a few work projects.  We paved a small walkway between the outdoor kitchen and the orphanage because people had been slipping and falling. We built an outdoor sink where dishes can be washed and the water can drain into a small garden nearby.  We built a chicken house so that the children will have eggs.  And we cleared out all the bats that were living in the roof & set up barriers so that they can’t continue to enter.  I’m thankful for all the help we had in accomplishing these tasks.  I’m looking forward to the year ahead because we still have SO much work to do!

Quite possibly one of the most exciting things for the children this last year was my very large purchase of BOOKS!  I bought Bible story books, other children’s books, books in Swahili, books in English, and even some textbooks.  THEN a team from Austin, TX brought an entire suitcase full of books – even books that make sounds!  We turned a meeting room into a library, and we now have 2 very large shelves full of books, games, and puzzles!  I used the books and games to work with the younger orphans with reading, counting, and math.  Our teacher, Nicholas, used the books and textbooks to tutor the orphans and teach the kindergarten class.  I’m praying that these books, games, and puzzles will serve as a means to help the children grow in intelligence and a desire to learn more!

One of my favorite parts of last year was the introduction of “Family Dinner.”  Three or 4 nights a week, 3 or 4 of the orphans picked a favorite meal & joined me for dinner around the table in my room.  This was my opportunity to learn more about the individual hearts of these children.  I pounded them with questions & they opened up to share about life, school, their understanding of the Bible memory verses, their families, and even their memories of their deceased parents.  This dinner table certainly saw its share of both laughter and tears!  For one night in the course of a month, each child gets to feel special – and you should see how their faces beam when they find out it’s their night!!  I LOVE that the Lord has given ME the opportunity to show them that they are loved and very special!

The children were given the opportunity to begin memorizing verses in order to be awarded with a BIBLE!  At first they thought it was quite hard, but with daily repetition, most of them had it all down by the time we left for Christmas.  The orphans have never owned anything other than the clothes they wear, so I’m excited that the first REAL, personal possession they’ll ever have is none other than the living word of God!  At this point, they have only begun to learn the most foundational verses for salvation, but they will continue to learn more as we walk through the Bible together this year.

November marked the beginning of the season for planting maize (field corn).  We urged the church to help us plow our land & plant our maize crop.  When the time came, 3 people came with their cows to help us plow.  Even though it was reported to me that the lack of rain caused our crop to fail, I’m thankful that those 3 men came and invested their time, and I only pray that MANY, MANY, MANY more will offer their cows and their hands when the time comes to plant beans after the heavy rains.

This is merely a glimpse of the wonderful things the Lord was doing at the orphanage this past year.  As I look toward the year ahead and continue to ask the Lord to give me a vision for the work by the leading of His Holy Spirit, I wait in expectation for what He will do at the orphanage in order to glorify His name among the community in Makwale and beyond!

An African Thanksgiving

Tonight I skipped dinner.  A strange thing to do on Thanksgiving Day, I know.

You see, it was a beautiful night.  The orphanage buildings were glowing in the moonlight.  The fireflies were dancing everywhere.  The soft drizzle was bringing with it the smell of fresh earth & a cool breeze – much needed relief from the heat we’ve been enduring.

At first, I was enjoying the evening with two of my youngest boys, Light and Geno.  We just sat and talked, especially about how much we are all going to miss each other as we each go visit our homes.  Then they were called to dinner, and I had my first few moments of silence for the day.  I decided to enjoy it instead of involving myself in the work inevitably required for any meal here.  I had my cup of tea & just sat against the wall on the stairs outside my room, listening to my little yatima sing their nightly, after-dinner worship songs.

After the singing and prayers were finished, I found myself suddenly surrounded by children, all of us just sitting on the steps together and talking.  This will sound funny to some, but I love the nights when there is no electricity.  The children are less distracted by other things to do, so we all sit together and talk in the darkness as we gaze at the sparkling stars above us.  There’s nothing like nights like these.  These are the moments when I’m in awe of how blessed I am, when I’m thankful for how beautiful my Abba has made my life.

It wasn’t long, however, before the lights were on.  The children cheered & begged me to play the new songs I got today from the choirs in our church.  As I brought out my radio, I think there was a stampede on the way to the library!  We played games & put together puzzles while listening to the music.  But there was one song in particular – anytime it came on, the children would just break out in dance, as if they couldn’t help it!  The song is called “Ni Furaha Yangu Kwenda na Yesu Maishani Mwangu”… “It’s my joy to go with Jesus in my life.” 

By the end of the night, it was an all-out dance party, with only one song being played over and over and over again!  “Furaha yangu…” (“My joy”). You should see all these little children dance!  They are absolutely adorable… and man, they got skill!  The room was filled with joy and happiness!  “Furaha yangu…”  Even now, while the children are SUPPOSED to be sleeping, I can hear some of them singing… “Ni furaha yangu kwenda na Yesu…” 

I’m thankful that after only 4 days, I’ll be beginning my ‘safari’ home to be with family and friends again for a few months.  However, I’m going to miss nights like these.  Life here is anything but easy, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that giving up and going home is an attractive thought at least once in every day (especially in these last few months)… but when I look into the face of even one of these precious, little yatima, I’m reminded of why I’m here.  And I’m thankful to be here.  I’d choose a night like this with no dinner at all over a lovely turkey dinner any day.

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” – John 4:34

Has it really ONLY been 3 months?

Sometimes I can hardly believe I’ve been at the orphanage for almost 3 months now, and sometimes it feels as if it has been years already!  I’ve had some really beautiful days, enjoying the joys of living with my lovely little yatima; I’ve had some really difficult days, dealing with a new language and cultural issues; and I’ve had some really homesick days, missing family and friends.  Life is full of joys & difficulties no matter where you live, and we can thank God for that because there is a purpose for both.

I haven’t really posted much since arriving at the orphanage.  I’ve been busy with so many things as I’ve been making this transition into a new life, culture, language, and role.  Hopefully life will slow down a bit so that I can take more time to write updates and share stories of life here.  So, let me take a few minutes here to go back and update everyone on a few things that have happened since arriving.

It was a joy to arrive back at the orphanage this year.  I had missed the children and orphanage workers so much.  I’ve loved every moment with the children since returning.  One of the best things is that all the frustrations of being totally immersed in a new language is finally paying off. Sometimes I can hardly believe how much my Swahili has improved in such a short time (though I still have a long way to go).  I can actually talk to the children & understand them now!  It makes our time together so much sweeter!  I really want to thank those of you who prayed for this specifically!

While I was in Iringa for a week-long Swahili refresher course, I was able to buy some Swahili children’s books.  I can’t express how thrilled I was to see the children so excited about their new books on the first night I pulled them out.  Now, every evening the children have the option to play games, put together puzzles, or READ for a few hours before bedtime!  My hope is that this will fuel a love for reading and a desire to learn, and that it will be one step toward improving their academic scores.  I hope to begin a reading program here at the orphanage very soon, so we will see how that goes!

Last month I was in Dar-es-Salaam picking up my father and brother, and I met a man who works for an organization that repairs water pumps and digs wells.  Many of you know that clean, running water is our GREATEST need at the orphanage.  Every day we fetch water from the nearby stream for drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing laundry, bathing, flushing toilets – EVERYTHING!  You can imagine how much water is needed (and how many buckets!) for all of these activities when there are 40 people living at the orphanage!  So this has been a major point of prayer.  We are very hopeful that everything will work out & that this organization will be able to dig our well!  I will keep you posted as we get more information on this!

We also had 2 groups of visitors from the U.S. come out to the orphanage!  A lot was accomplished in a short time.  My dad and brother, Austin, spent their time here building a large chicken house where we hope to eventually keep up to 150 chickens, which will provide eggs and meat for the orphans.  They also started working on a new outdoor concrete sink.  Currently, the orphans and workers wash dishes on the ground outside the kitchen.  Water accumulates in the area to create quite a stench & several people have stumbled and fallen on the slippery bricks.  Hopefully, this new sink will fix this problem once it is completed.  My dad also brought a satellite phone to install, which will provide a way for me to communicate in the midst of an emergency. 

The team from Great Hills Baptist Church came to visit the orphanage, too, bringing along with them BAGS & BAGS of gifts for the children – books, medicine, toys & sports equipment, underwear, craft supplies, and other goodies!  They spent much of their time in the communities throughout the Kyela district, putting on men’s & women’s leadership meetings and speaking in secondary schools (the American equivalent of high school).  They also blessed the children with a rare and wonderful treat: a day at Matema Beach!  Everyone enjoyed swimming, drinking a soda & eating cookies & candy, catching bubbles, playing ball, tossing beanbags, and the team even brought a large parachute game!

August 4^th was a sad day.  I said goodbye to my dad and Austin as they prepared to fly out of Dar.  Actually, I’m not sure I was actually able to choke the words out through my tears and sadness.  The team from Great Hills Baptist Church also flew out that day.  It was great having so many visitors to offset some of the initial homesickness you experience early on when moving to another country, so obviously it was very sad to say goodbye!

Now, I hope that things will slow down and I can get a routine going here.  There is one big thing on the schedule for this month, though.  I’m not sure which day, but at some point the Baptist Convention of Tanzania will be declaring the land boundaries for the orphanage.  Once we know how much land we have to work with, hopefully we will be able to get started with an irrigation system so that we can begin growing as much food as possible to help sustain the food consumption at the orphanage!  I am very excited about the possibilities!

God has been so good & I am thankful for so many things!  These last few months have been long & tiring, to be quite honest, but I am encouraged about what lies ahead! 

I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to pray for me and to write notes of encouragement!  I’m certain I have some of the best family & friends in the world!  Hopefully I will be able to do a much better job of keeping everyone updated with posts in the coming months!  Mungu awabariki sana!

The Street Children of Mbeya

On my way back to the orphanage from Dar es Salaam (where I dropped off my father and brother at the airport after a long visit here), I stopped in Mbeya to stay with a missionary friend of mine.  She has been living in Tanzania for 10 years & works with inner-city children of Mbeya. 

Her ministry helps to feed 120 children breakfast every day.  There is also a program on Tuesdays and Fridays in which children play games, sing songs together, learn stories from the Bible, and get a second meal for the day.  My friend has also taken 8 of these children into her home because they had no other place to go.

I decided to stay a few extra days to visit her inner-city program.  It was heartbreaking to see the faces of so many children who spend the day wandering the street, dirty and hungry, clothes torn and insufficient to keep them warm during this time of year when it gets quite cold here in the mountainous region of Mbeya.

When we first arrived, the little ones surrounded me.  At one point, three of them were holding just one of my hands – each had a finger!  They just wanted to be loved, to be touched.  We went inside & I helped them put together some puzzles.  Every time they got a piece in the right place, they’d tug on my shirt or tap me so I could see what a good job they’d done.  They just wanted some affirmation, for someone to see that they had done something well.  We put the games away to hear the day’s lesson.  I had two little ones in my lap, but they started hitting each other because they each wanted to be the ONLY one in my lap.  They just wanted to feel special to someone, to know that someone loves them individually. 

After their lesson, they had their meal & then we all hung out together outside.  My friend had to take some of the children to be tested for malaria & then visit a woman in the hospital, so I waited at the program site for her to return.  The older girls immediately came to play with my hair; some of the older boys tried to speak to me with what little English they knew; and one of the little ones fell asleep in my lap.

Then something crazy started happening.  Several of the older boys picked up one of the boys by his arms and legs and tried to throw him out of the compound.  They were beating him & dragging him, he was crying, and I couldn’t understand what was happening.  I finally got them to tell me why they were doing this to him.  They told me that this 10 year old boy had raped a 4 year old girl that they knew.  I was shocked and couldn’t believe that a child so young could already be involved in such actions.  I informed my friend & a young man who works with her when they returned, and they were careful to handle the situation properly.  However, I’m saddened to say that I found out what the children were saying was actually true.

The situation broke my heart, not only for the 4 year old girl, but also for this boy.  Growing up on the streets, there was no one there to guide him, to nurture him and raise him to do what is right.  There was no one there to teach him the consequences of following his selfish instincts.  Perhaps there was no one around to love him and to teach him to love others.  And how did such a young boy even know about such things?  He was acting out something he had somehow been exposed to, or even something that had been done to him.  It is a very, very sad story – for both the little girl and the little boy.

My prayer for these children is that the Lord would send people to come and love these children.  Right now, my friend is bearing this work with only one other person!  But how can just 2 people effectively love so many children?  My prayer is that more people would be burdened to come and invest their lives into these children.

Don’t see people around you with this kind of need?  Don’t see people in your area starving and in need of food, clothes, and shelter?  Well, maybe you should seek them out.  There are children just like the ones in this inner-city program here in Mbeya ALL OVER THE WORLD!  Jesus spent His life caring for the poor, the sick, the oppressed.  If you decide to follow in the footsteps of Jesus & do the same, it would not be a decision you could ever regret.  As Jesus says in Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”  In Matthew 25:34, He says, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me…Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

My hope is that each and every one of us would be burdened for those around the world who are lost, poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison, or unloved.  There are children around the world who have no one to care for them.  If you want to do something with your life - if you want to follow Jesus, but you just don’t know what you can do - there are children here who need to be loved, who need people who will invest their lives into them, who need someone to lead them to the Good Shepherd who will then lead them for the rest of their lives into the abundant life.  Pray about being that person for these children. 

If you are confident you are to remain at home to fulfill the purpose God has for your life, remember those around the world who don’t live such comfortable lives.  Pray about what you can do to help those around the world who have much greater need than those around you. 

Just pray about what God would have you do.  Perhaps He will put something on your heart & do something through you which you never expected!

Has it really been a month & a half?

It’s hard to believe that I haven’t posted any updates since arriving at the orphanage!  My internet signal at the orphanage is so low that I’m not able to load my blogsite.  I will do my best to post updates when I am able to travel to towns where I can get a better signal.


My arrival at the orphanage seems like ages ago.  There was such joy in being reunited with my little yatima and all the orphanage workers!  Though there are times when I have felt homesick, my time with the children washes all that away.  It is my absolute delight to be with them.  My initial time at the orphanage was spent making a ‘home’ for myself in my room at the orphanage, making some assessments of building repairs and needs, working on the orphanage’s budget, starting records for each of the children, and spending as much time with the children in the evenings as possible.  We've started a mini-Bible study before bedtime, but my Swahili is still not on that level yet, so it requires much help from the orphanage workers!

I was at the orphanage for about a week and a half before traveling to Iringa for a week-long Swahili refresher course.  I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to stay with IMB missionaries, Bill & Pauline Eardensohn.  I tried to soak up the opportunities to learn from them, including Pauline’s incredible from-scratch-cooking skills!

While I was there, I attended an Iringa Christian Fellowship Bible study where I was able to see many familiar faces from my time in Swahili school last year.  The study was held at the home of Brad and Neroli – missionaries from Australia.  I saw that they had a Katadyn water filter - something I’d been looking for.  When I inquired about where they’d found their filter, they offered to give me one of the filters that they weren’t using!  I cannot even express what an incredible blessing this was - these filters are anything but cheap because they filter EVERYTHING!  It is not an exaggeration to tell you that this filter has changed my life at the orphanage!  I am so thankful for Brad & Neroli’s generosity, and thankful that God answers prayers such as these!

After leaving Iringa, I traveled to Mbeya where I stayed with a new missionary friend, Sharmala, who works in inner-city youth ministry & provides a home for 7 of the young street boys.  She was a huge encouragement to me, and she helped me make my way around the immigration office so that I could get my permit stamped into my passport.  We spent much time talking & I was able to glean from the wisdom she has acquired here over the years. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with this new friendship!

After 2 days, I left Mbeya & returned to the orphanage.  I was there for less than a week before beginning another safari (journey) – this time to Dar es Salaam to pick up my father and brother from the airport.  After picking them up, we traveled to Arusha to await the Annual General Meeting of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania. 

We didn’t have enough days to travel all the way to the orphanage before heading to Arusha, so we decided to use the time for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: a 4 day safari.  We spent a day and a night camping in Lake Manyara National Park, spent 2 days and a night camping in the Serengeti, spent one night camping on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater & headed down into the Crater for our final day.  God definitely showed us His favor because we were able to see some truly incredible sights – a mama lion carrying her cub in her mouth, a male lion eating his zebra prey, a female lion on the hunt, tree-climbing lions, several leopards lounging in the trees, a baby elephant nursing from its mama, a mama baboon grooming her baby, and the tail-end of the migration to the north.  We saw all of the “Big 5” – elephants, buffalo, lions, leopards, and rhinos.  We also saw 2 cheetahs, which I hadn’t expected to see!  Every moment was absolutely breath-taking & I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to experience such an adventure!

While in Arusha, I got to spend some time with my friends who live here, Kristoffer and Margunn.  They were in Swahili school during the time that I was there last year.  Margunn is quite pregnant now, so it was lovely to be able to talk with them about all that has happened in the last 7 months!

Yesterday I was able to attend a small portion of the BCT Executive Committee meeting where I was introduced to those who invited me to join in the work here in TZ.  I also got to meet Pastor Ken Holden and Pastor Steve Thompson, who are here representing the Baptist Convention of Kentucky (which has had a partnership with the BCT).

Today (July 14th) was the beginning of the Annual General Meeting.  It is a special year because it is the 40 year anniversary of the birth of the BCT.  I was introduced at the meeting, along with my father and brother, and I was able to share a few words… for the first time, I spoke in front of a large crowd using only Swahili.  I know I made many errors, but I was thankful for the opportunity to try & even more thankful for the grace of the hearers!

Tomorrow is the final day of the meeting (and my birthday!), then we’ll set out on another long journey to the orphanage on Saturday.  After a 12 hour bus ride to Dar, we’ll stay the night there & then start the 16 hour bus ride to Kyela on Sunday morning.  If all goes as planned, we’ll arrive at the orphanage on Monday.  I am so excited to return.  It feels as if I have been gone for a month!

Well, there you have the very brief synopsis of what I have been up to over the last month and a half.  It has been a very busy beginning (and WAY too much traveling).  My father and brother will be here through the beginning of August & there is a team from Texas coming at the end of this month.  Hopefully, things will slow down a bit after that & I will have more time to write and post updates!  I also have details and stories from the past month and a half which I hope to be able to share soon. 

I want to thank those of you who have been praying for me & those who have taken the time to encourage me with updates from home!  There is much to do here & this sort of work comes with many challenges, but the Lord has used many of you to keep me encouraged!  I can’t express how much it has meant to me!  Mungu awabariki sana!  (May God bless you all so much!)